1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a character input apparatus and a character input method, and more particularly, to a character input apparatus in which characters are input using a touch and drag method, and a character input method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently developed mobile devices (such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable multimedia players (PMPs), etc.) have emphasized a design that is convenient for carrying. Such devices employ a physical user interface (PUI) having a touch sensor (such as a touch screen, a touch pad, and/or a touch key) instead of hard keys, and application software receiving input characters using the touch sensor is mounted therein.
Mobile terminals using a related art touch screen employ a soft key pad input method and a handwriting recognition method as character input methods. The soft key pad input method refers to a method in which a terminal having a touch screen displays an input window of a key pad type on the touch screen, and may be touched (for example, by a stylus pen, a finger, etc.). The handwriting recognition method refers to a method in which a terminal recognizes handwritten letters (i.e., cursive letters), and converts the recognized letters into a data code. The soft key pad has a limitation in that a keyboard displayed on a narrow display window is limited in size. The handwriting recognition method has a limitation in that recognizing various cursive letters is difficult. For example, when a search function in an MPEG layer 3 (MP3) player is used, when a destination is input in a navigation system, or when a pin code is input to set a Bluetooth network, it is difficult to input letters using a soft key pad as a touch sensor has a narrow surface. Therefore, errors frequently occur when letters are input.
Accordingly, there is a need for methods to easily input letters on a narrow touch sensor.